President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said the Federal Government was working with the state governments to beef up the equipping of the security agencies with advanced technology and equipment that can facilitate their work.
Buhari said he would be issuing directives to the appropriate federal authorities to speedily approve licensing for states requesting the use of drones to monitor forests and other criminal hideouts.
“We also intend to install CCTVs on highways and other strategic locations so that activities in some of those hidden places can be exposed, more effectively monitored and open to actionable review,” he said.
President Buhari, who disclosed this when he received South-West traditional rulers led by the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who were on a courtesy visit to the State House, assured that his administration would continue to do everything necessary to protect the lives of all Nigerians and ensure that every Nigerian in every state is safe, and that people live in peace and harmony regardless of ethnicity, religion or region.
“As a government, we remain committed to the ideals of our democracy, particularly entrenching the rule of law and the sanctity of life,” he said.
Buhari assured that his government would enforce the law, prosecute lawbreakers and secure an atmosphere of tranquility for all Nigerians wherever they choose to live and also protect communities from all forms of crimes.
“This is both in our interests as an administration and the interests of the people who voted us into office. We need security to deliver on our many programmes to the people. There can be no prosperity if there is no security,” he said.
Corroborating Buhari’s position, Ooni of Ife said any identified bad Fulani must leave the South-West, adding that the initial call for the Fulani to leave was as a result of “tension”.
“Well, it’s because of the tension but this time around the traditional rulers have arrived at a resolution to ensure that will not happen. It is the bad ones that should be focused on. We all live in Nigeria; it is the bad ones that have come in from different borders that are porous, those are the ones we will focus on to separate the corn from wheat,” the Ooni said.
He said President Buhari was in agreement with the traditional rulers on the issue, adding that even the Fulani do not want their name spoilt by bad eggs but many people are hiding under the name of the clan to do evil now.
“Another milestone we achieved is that the President will fast-track very rapid monitoring of our forests using the technology of modern standard, the drones. The various security agencies will rally round the IG and see how it can be properly deployed,” he said.
Ogunwusi informed that the Federal Government would also install CCTV along “our highways” and that “the IGP said they are very aggressive about clearing our highways now”.
“We believe that with all these there will be reduction in the tension in the South-West because the South-West is very sensitive in Nigeria,” he said.
“We don’t pray for crisis or war or uprising because it will snowball into a lot of things, that is why we are all represented from the six states that make up South-Western Nigeria. We thank God that Mr. President is listening and so far so good, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
The Oba disclosed that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and other key security heads were at the closed doors meeting with the President.
“Today, the Inspector General of Police was present and the entire security architecture will be restructured, we are very happy about that. We were also told about community policing so the policemen will be recruited from the community, those that were born there, brought up there and they won’t be able to move them around. So we can use that strategy to avert a lot of tension going around the South-West in particular now. We were able to achieve that milestone,” he said.
Meanwhile, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly known as Shiites, on Wednesday announced that they would temporarily suspend street protests nationwide to allow for some new openings into the resolution of their face-off with the Federal Government over the continued detention of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
“IMN do hereby announce to the general public and the international community that it has temporarily suspended its ‘Free Zakzaky’ street protests to allow for some new openings into the resolution of the problems, especially the court case instituted by our lawyers on the proscription order made by the federal government this week,” said a statement issued on Wednesday by Ibrahim Musa, president, Media Forum of IMN.
The Federal Government secured a court order last week which declared the IMN a terrorist organisation and proscribed the group. This was after recent confrontation between police and the sect members led to the death of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving with Channels Television, Precious Owolabi, and scores of IMN members.
The sect said that it has taken this step in good faith out of respect for some eminent people and groups, whose input in the resolution of the problems appears genuine even as it sincerely hopes an amicable way could be found “to solve the crises surrounding the illegal detention of our leader for almost four years now”.
“If at all any protests occur anywhere in the country, it might be this notice hasn’t reached those in the field or this message is misunderstood or it is some security agents who are mischievously behind it as they have been doing in an attempt to smear our image and be seen as unruly people rather than as victims of savage oppression since 2015,” the statement said.
“We are committed to exploring the new openings we have seen in resolving this protracted issue. We therefore reiterate our demand that our leader, his wife and several others in detention be given their freedom denied to them since 2015,” it said.
TONY AILEMEN & INNOCENT ODOH
